McDermott, Yvonne --- "Double Speak and Double Standards: Does the Jurisprudence on Retrial following Acquittal under International Criminal Law Spell the End of the Double Jeopardy Rule?" [2012] ELECD 793; in Keane, David; McDermott, Yvonne (eds), "The Challenge of Human Rights" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2012)

Book Title: The Challenge of Human Rights

Editor(s): Keane, David; McDermott, Yvonne

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9780857939005

Section: Chapter 9

Section Title: Double Speak and Double Standards: Does the Jurisprudence on Retrial following Acquittal under International Criminal Law Spell the End of the Double Jeopardy Rule?

Author(s): McDermott, Yvonne

Number of pages: 18

Extract:

9. Doublespeak and double standards:
Does the jurisprudence on
retrial following acquittal under
international criminal law spell the
end of the double jeopardy rule?
Yvonne McDermott*

The rule against double jeopardy, which stipulates that no person may
be tried twice for the same offence, is an integral component of the crimi-
nal justice system and constitution of most countries,1 as well as being a
general principle of both human rights and international criminal law. The
broad idea behind the principle and the values it seeks to protect are rela-
tively straightforward: the powerful state, with its abundance of resources,
should not be permitted to make repeated attempts to convict a person,
thereby subjecting him or her to restrictions on his right to liberty, as well
as to personal expense and anguish.2 The principle of finality also serves to
ensure effective prosecutions at first instance, and saves witnesses from the
emotional burden of having to testify more than once.3

* The author wishes to thank William A. Schabas, Middlesex University and

Megan A. Fairlie, Florida International University, for their comments on an
earlier draft.
1 The term `double jeopardy', as is common to adversarial legal traditions, is

used interchangeably with the term `ne bis in idem', as the principle is called in most
civil legal codes, throughout. There is a difference between the terms, insofar as the
first refers to repeat prosecutions in the one jurisdiction, while ne bis in idem gener-
ally covers the rule that no-one ...